NFC North Rivals Clash While Arizona and Oregon Highlight …

With no Adrian Peterson, the Vikings will have make do with a rookie QB and an unknown running game.

Thursday night once again offers us some great games in both college and professional football.

Minnesota (+9) at Green Bay (O/U 48) – The good news for both teams is that they each won games last week. The bad news is that Rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater has a gimpy ankle for the Vikes and the Packers gave up three sacks and nearly 400 yards offense. It looks like Bridgewater is a ‘go’ for tonight at Lambeau.

Green Bay is 28th in defense so with all due respect to Aaron Rodgers and his “relax” comment, there are issues on this team. The Vikings have problems too and that’s why I would expect a sloppy game. I fully expect Packers’ defensive coordinator Dom Capers to ring up all kinds of different looks and blitzes in an effort to confuse the rookie Bridgewater.

Trends: The Packers are 7-2-1 in their last ten games against the Vikings… Minnesota is 1-4 against the spread in their last five games at Green Bay… The Packers are 0-3-2 ATS in their last five home games… The total has gone OVER in five of Minnesota’s last seven game at Green Bay.

The Pick: The Packers are too explosive on offense to lose but I like the Vikes and the points and I like the OVER.

Rich Rodriguez brings his Wildcats to Oregon as 23-point underdogs.

Arizona (+23) at Oregon (O/U 77) – It’s pretty unusual to see two 4-0 teams go at it and one of them is a 23-point underdog but that’s exactly what we have tonight in Eugene, Oregon.

Neither team has what I’d call a dominant defense which I have to believe means you’re going to see some serious scoring in this game. The Ducks will go as QB Marcus Mariota goes and last week he rallied Oregon to defeat a very game Washington State on the road in Pullman.

Arizona Head Coach Rich Rodriguez has seen these unbeaten starts before only to see his teams falter once conference play got rolling. Freshman QB Anu Solomon has been pretty good so far throwing for 13 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Playing in Autzen Stadium however will be a new experience for the youngster.

Trends: Arizona is 1-7 straight up in their last eight games on the road at Oregon… The Ducks are 3-6 against the spread in their last nine games against Arizona… The total has gone OVER in four of Arizona’s last six games when playing the Ducks… Last season, Arizona beat Oregon 42-16 in Tucson. That was their first win at home over the Ducks since 2007.

The Pick: The Ducks will remember what happened in Tuscon last year and I think they take advantage of an average defense and they’ll cover. I also like the OVER.

Central Florida (+3) at Houston (O/U 53) – Central Florida is 4-1 against Houston with the Cougars only win coming back in 2006. Both teams have had their share of good opponents and bad already in 2014. The Cougars best game may have been a loss at BYU while the Knights lost to Penn State on a field goal at the gun.

Trends: UCF is 2-4 against the spread in their last six games on the road… The total has gone UNDER in eight of Houston’s last nine games… The Knights are 7-1 straight up in their last eight games on the road… The Cougars are 2-4 ATS in their last six home games.

The Pick: The UCF roster has big game experience so I like them getting the points and I like the UNDER.